Grizzly sophomore just 0.02 out of the medals

MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico — In her first career international competition, Adams State College sophomore Indira Spence of Trelawny, Jamaica, finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles at the XXI Central American & Caribbean Games, Sunday evening here in the island nation’s western coast city. Spence, a 9-time NCAA Division II All-American and 2-time national champion for the Grizzlies, posted a time of 13.22 seconds, just two one-hundredths of a second out of the medals.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Aleesha Barber won the gold medal is 13.09 seconds while Colombia’s Eliecit Palacio edged Spence’s Jamaican teammate Andrea Bliss for the silver. Both of those runners were clocked in 13.20 seconds.

Colombia’s Briggite Merlano took fourth in 13.21.

Spence, running outside in lane 8 during the finals, had qualified for the evening race after taking the third and final automatic qualifying spot out of her morning semifinal heat, which she ran in 13.41 seconds. Only Barber (13.10), a 2008 Olympian in the event, and Palacios, who ran a season-best time of 13.19 seconds, finished better than her in that race.

The Central American & Caribbean Games, an Olympic-style event held every four years, bring together nearly 5,000 athletes from 31 countries.

Spence earned this international opportunity when she clocked an Adams State school-record time of 13.05 seconds to win the event at the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association’s National Senior Trials on June 27 at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. She won the race by 0.12 seconds.

Earlier in 2010, Spence finished second in the NCAA Division II National Championships in May with a time of 13.15 seconds and had earlier posted a time of 13.13 seconds to win the Invitational section of the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. the month prior.

During the indoor season, Spence won the NCAA Division II 60-meter hurdle title with a school-record time of 8.05 seconds. She was also named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region Track Athlete of the Year during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns.